


Rinse and Repeat

by dame_de_la_chance



Category: Code Lyoko, Code Lyoko Evolution
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I imagine this takes place between the end of the original series and evolution, Other, but I guess it can take place any time, the others might have also been nearly drowned but I only remember Odd and Jeremie so, they all been through so much shit jeez, they’re trying to sort out some stuff, ya know, yeah it’s a beach fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 05:58:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14970569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dame_de_la_chance/pseuds/dame_de_la_chance
Summary: Jeremie and the gang goes to the beach, but Jeremie just can’t seem to get into the water no matter how much he wants to, because XANA still haunts him in ways he hadn’t thought of before.





	Rinse and Repeat

A warm breeze ruffled his hair as he stared out at the horizon, the umbrella he was planted under shaking slightly from the wind. The sun gazed overhead at the beach goers, shining brightly and threatening to roast the pale blond, who was watching his friends as they waddled in the waves of the beach.

It was finally their school district’s spring vacation, and Aelita had always wanted to go to the beach. No one had dared denying her, and they all agreed that it would be nice to have some time to themselves and relax.

Yumi was drifting in a large inflatable off in the near distance, her eyes closed as she relaxed in the soothing waves. Ulrich and Aelita were attempting to race each other, and it seemed like Aelita was winning as they swam toward a large boulder.

Jeremie sat on the sand a ways away, sunblock making him look even pastier than usual as he stayed under the umbrella. A book sat in his lap, and he was thankful he had come prepared, or else he would have been bored out of his skull.

The others had tried to convince him to go into the water, but Jeremie stayed back. He used to love to swim, as it was the only athletic activity he could do. But after all of the XANA attacks they had gone through, all the attempted drownings... Jeremie couldn’t let go. A weariness had settled deep in his bones, and he pluck up the courage to get rid of it.

It felt stupid to be afraid when XANA wasn’t around. And yet when he had nervously gone near the shoreline, waves of dread swept over him like the waves rippling across the water. He didn’t go in, and he let the fear paralyse him.

There was a rustle next to him, and his thoughts were interrupted as he turned to glance at his friend. Odd was lying next to him, his eyes closed as if he was napping; he had been attempting to get a tan, and from the looks of it, achieved that goal. Jeremie watched as he began to sit up, stretching his arms as he glanced out at the ocean.

“Still don’t want to get in the water?” Odd asked, his eyes darting toward Jeremie. It wasn’t condescending, and was in fact rather gentle.

“Not really,” he answered. Odd nodded, leaning back on his elbow which dig into the grainy sand, and crossed his legs.

“I understand.”

Jeremie nodded his head in response, expecting the conversation to die. He wondered what Odd meant by that, how he could understand. He continued to watch the fellow blond, out of curiosity and because of something else that tugged in him.

Now that he thought about it, Odd hadn’t gotten into the water either. He had spent the whole time with him, either dozing off or bugging him about how pale he looked, or asking him what he was reading, or just trying to strike up a conversation. He wondered if Odd was purposely staying with him to be nice, to provide him some company, or if he had his own ulterior motives.

“XANA really sucks,” Odd muttered, watching the others begin to enter a splashing war with Yumi. Jeremie turned to face him, surprised at the sudden topic. Odd glanced at him and gave him a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I know were supposed to be on vacation and not supposed to be thinking about him but...” 

Odd trailed off, his eyes gazing back at the endless expanse of a crystal blue ocean. He acted as if he was expecting Jeremie to chastise him for breaking the agreement all of them had made, as if no one else had already broken it.

“But what?” Jeremie prodded. He was curious as to why Odd was fixated on XANA at the moment.

“It sucks that we can’t go to the beach and have fun without being bogged down by him.” Odd sighed. “You nearly got drowned by him, didn’t you?”

Jeremie glanced down at his book. “Yeah.”

“Is that why you won’t go into the water? You can’t go near it without thinking about XANA all the drowning attempts he made toward you?”

“Yeah.”

Odd nodded. “You used to love swimming. At least, that was your favourite part of gym class, yeah?”

Jeremie was surprised that Odd remembered that. He’d only mentioned that swimming was the best and only good part of gym class once or twice in passing. “Yeah. I used to do competitions when I was younger. I never won, but I did love it.”

“Yeah.” Odd’s eyes zeroed in on the distance once again, focused on the horizon. “Me too.”

“You like swimming?”

“I liked it.” He grinned slightly. “I live near a beach in Italy. My mother liked to shoo me and my sisters out of the house for some alone time, and we’d always go to the beach to play. My sisters frequently made a hobby to dunk me and see how long they could keep me under, and I loved to try and paint the sunsets.”

He remained quiet for a while, reflecting on the past. Jeremie watched him as he did so. Of course he would be able to tan so well if he spent all of his days in the sun.

“But yeah,” he finally settled on. “Now look at me. I can’t even go near the water’s edge without feeling...”

“Afraid?”

Odd glanced at him before giving a lopsided smile that didn’t quite match the topic they were on. “Yeah. That’s the feeling.”

Jeremie watched as Odd began to sit straight up and criss-cross his legs, a contemplative expression forming on the smaller boy’s face. Jeremie hated XANA for all the things he had done, for all the near deaths and traps and all of their trauma, but it never hit him until now how deep some of XANA’s damage was. Here they were, two boys who loved to be in the water, now too terrified to even dip their feet in because of that monstrosity.

He loathed the virus before, but mostly for the big picture of nearly being killed so many times. Now, he also hated him for all the little things he caused- inadvertently or otherwise.

He watched as his friend stared longingly at the water, and he knew it was desire on his face. He wanted to go in, he wanted to join his friends, he wanted to have fun- but this twisted, sinking feeling in his gut forced him to stay back, the memories of nearly being drowned keeping him back.

Jeremie shut his book and set it to the side with a soft slam. He stood up abruptly, before turning to Odd. The boy watched him in confusion as Jeremie held out his hand toward him.

“Let’s go in together,” Jeremie offered. “If you want.”

Odd blinked at him, completely lost for words. Slowly, a grin swept across his face and he took his hand, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. “Let’s go.”

Jeremie pulled him up and the two began to wander down toward the coastline, the hot sand under their feet scorching their skin. They moved at the same, rather slow pace, and Jeremie tried to shove all of the fear and anxiety he was feeling to the side as they meandered closer to the glittering water.

The sand became sticky as they stopped moving, standing still on the edge of land and sea. Jeremie could see from his peripheral vision Yumi watching them, clearly concerned, but he ignored her. Jeremie could feel a bubble of nervousness form in him, threatening to pop.

He heard Odd suck in a deep breath, clearly trying to calm his own nerves. They stared at the water for a long moment, watching the waves gently crash against the yellow-brown sand. It was hypnotic lull to watch the pull of the waves, and the heavy pit in his stomach slowly began to fade.

Odd suddenly laced his fingers in his, and gave him a shy smile of reassurance. Jeremie wasn’t able to process it before Odd slowly waded into the water, his feet becoming emerged in the glassy surface. A sharp breath was drawn by Odd as he kept his eyes trained on the sea, and he seemed to be holding his breath like he had been completely submerged.

Jeremie gulped, his throat dry, before he hesitantly followed Odd’s footsteps. Cool water sloshed at his ankles and the coldness nearly took his breath away. He gave a glance at Odd, and their eyes met.

Odd smiled, genuinely smiled, and Jeremie could feel himself grinning despite himself. Odd had sun freckles blooming across his face and shoulders, and they seemed to darken as he gave a goofy grin.

“Not bad,” he said after a quiet moment.

“Not bad at all,” Jeremie admitted.

**Author's Note:**

> Eh. This can be interpreted as romantic or platonic. I like it either way. 
> 
> Let them be bros!


End file.
